


meet me on the equinox

by sunstainedsheets (less_than_improbable)



Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Changing the tags and ratings as fic progresses, Drama, Falling In Love, Future, M/M, Original Characters - Freeform, Romance, Self-Indulgent, Slightly Sci-Fi, Time - Freeform, Timey-Wimey, Uniq - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:07:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24558892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/less_than_improbable/pseuds/sunstainedsheets
Summary: “No, Doctor, you're wrong. Happy ever after doesn't mean forever. It just means time. A little time.”- River Song,The Husbands of River Song--In an attempt to test the limits of time, Xiao Zhan gets sent back to the year 2032 and meets a 35-year-old dance teacher who gives him his first taste of kindness. As years go by and Xiao Zhan learns to live as a time anomaly, he finds himself encountering that dance teacher in different stages of his life, getting to know him, and, falling irrevocably in love with him.Time has its rules, but it can make exceptions for love.
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was heavily inspired by River Song's story. 
> 
> I am back to writing in English! It's been quite a while hehe.
> 
> Each part here has a link to a song recommendation for atmosphere building, so give it a listen! I'll compile them all into one playlist once this fic is done. Tags and ratings are also subject to change as we progress. I hope you get to enjoy this fic! It's an idea I've been lamenting for a long time.
> 
> Thank you to Elle and Emma for helping me with this. Love you both.

# Prologue

## 2050

** The Lost Son  **

_([Xiao Zhan, age 8](https://open.spotify.com/track/0IRKoLdFE9eT6JdHdffg6z?si=v7WJ-FTnQKKy0r2BObIbfw)) _

“Now, Xiao Zhan, you listen to me,” baba whispered to him, picking him up from where he stood in his father’s laboratory and placing him on one of the tables. _Cold_ , the child thought as he shivered slightly. Baba brought out a velvety red box and opened it. It revealed a silver analog watch with a small screen indicating the time at the center and two small black circles embedded on its sides. It had a metal chain at the top portion. He plucked it out of the box. He asked the boy to lower his head and puts it on his neck.

“You are going to be my success,” sometimes, his baba got this kind of crazed, manic look in his eyes just like the one he saw in his eyes right now. He would usually get like this when his father made something great. “We are going to conquer time, and end this mystery to immortality! It’s not exactly time travel, but it’s the first step.” Baba pumped his fist in the air like how Xiao Zhan’s friends in the street would when they win a game. “My little boy, you must listen to me carefully. You are going to a place very far away from Baba.” He lifted the watch on his chest gently. “You must live, live until you cannot anymore, in that new place without me.”

This alarmed the young child. He pulled on his baba’s lab coat. “Baba, why aren’t you going there with me? Please, please don’t leave me.” His eyes grew watery.  
  


His baba shushed him, hugging him and peppering his scalp with kisses. “We must part, my son, for the betterment of mankind.” He cupped the boy’s face in his hands. “You are going to help so many people, Xiao Zhan! Think of how many people will be thanking you, thanking me for helping them!”

“But, baba,” the child started, nibbling on his lower lip. “I only want to draw.”

His baba pursed his lips. “Hmm. You can’t bring your tablet with you.” That made Xiao Zhan frown. His tablet was his life. He just needed to draw and his drawing would come to life for ten minutes. It kept him company when his baba spent his nights in the lab, and he only had his AI-powered android nanny to take care of him at home. The older man rummaged around his lab, throwing more into the disarrayed heaps of paper and notebooks on his desks. He finally conjured a thick-looking notebook. He wrote something on the first page and put it inside a small, worn out duffel bag he finds in the corner before giving it to Xiao Zhan. “We can’t use a D Pouch for you because people will grow suspicious if they see something from the future. So, this will have to do.” The boy put the strap around his head so that it rested on his shoulder. He raised Xiao Zhan’s face. “There. You can still draw. But, you have to live apart from baba from now on. Live there for a long time, A-Zhan. Don’t worry; just find the address I wrote in your sketchbook, and you’ll be fine. This watch will tell me everything I need to know about you as you grow.” The older man paused. “And, when it is time, you’ll come back.”

“I can come back?” He repeated, pointing to himself. His baba nodded at him enthusiastically. 

“Of course! I need to tell the world of my boy!” There was something really off about how he said it, but Xiao Zhan decided to believe him anyway. The scientist picked him up and threw him in the air carefully. He twirled him around, which made the little boy laugh, and put him back on the desk. They were both excited, but for two different reasons. “You’re going on a big adventure, A-Zhan.” His baba leaned his forehead on his. “Live for yourself. Survive.” He held the watch in his hands, and pressed both black buttons on the side. “Goodbye, Xiao Zhan.”

“Baba, no, wait—” Xiao Zhan didn’t get a chance to say something to him because his eyes were forced shut, and his body was… floating? It was difficult to discern since his eyes were closed and he felt like he couldn’t open them. The darkness and his instability made him panicked and uneasy; his heart started beating faster as his dread grew and grew until—

It was _no more_.

Even without opening his eyes, he knew there was finally something underneath him, something hard and cold. He let himself breathe for a few minutes so he could calm himself down. He counted from one to ten and sang _Little Star_ to himself. He used his hands and felt around himself to try to find out what he was on. It was rough, the texture similar to cement he found in the highways. His hands found his duffel bag beside him. He took a deep breath, and smelled the soil and grass nearby. Then, he opened his eyes.

He immediately closed it again when drops of rain poured into his eyes. He sat up and opened it once again, surveying his surroundings. It was dark, and he couldn’t see anyone nearby. He noticed that he was just outside one of these one-floor garages with floor-length windows. Around him were other studios, some grass and bushes, and a cemented circular road surrounding an island and an extension to it leading to a large gate ahead. The rain didn’t stop falling around him, so he sought shelter in the entrance to one of the studios. He pressed himself onto the wall beside the door and dropped to sit on the floor. The panic in his chest started to rise again, a mixture of feelings rolling into him like waves that he couldn’t avoid, making him shiver. He wanted to go back to his baba, why did his baba send him here, he wanted to get out of here, he just wanted to be somewhere safe, somewhere he knew, Xiao Zhan just _wanted_ —

His gaze fell to the watch on his chest. With shaking hands, he raised it up to his face so that he could see it better.

  
There, on the mini screen on the center, was the year **2032.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scream at me in the comments, on [ Twitter (I changed it!) ](https://twitter.com/sunstainedsheet) or in [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.qa/sunstainedsheet) !!


	2. Chapter 2

# Chapter 1

## 2032

** The beginning of the end  **

_([ Xiao Zhan, age 8](https://open.spotify.com/track/7zpPBjAtC4X2NUcLeUcCiH?si=ksPoLSURQhSq3j-Qe6rjTQ))_

His panic was interrupted by the lights from the window behind him. He hurried to hide himself behind the wall beside the window, allowing him to peek at the lit room. The beating of his heart started to slow as he watched a man with a beanie on his head. It made him look silly, like the egg he saw during his afternoons with an AI nanny. However, the serene look on the man’s face interested Xiao Zhan, and he didn’t know why. He couldn’t take his eyes off of him. 

The man released an audible sigh, and pulled a phone from his pocket. The phone looked underwhelming for the child; he was used to looking at smaller phones which had holographic capabilities. The man tapped on the phone a few times before music flowed out from it. The song was filled with punchy basses and highly accented notes. He tossed the phone to a chair nearby and closed his eyes, and let his body move on its own. He didn’t even spare the mirror-filled walls a glance.

To Xiao Zhan, it was like watching a puppet come to life; each limb the man raised, each sway, each stomp were all part of this organized movement, the first dance he had ever seen live in his life. The music grew faster, and so did this dancer. He evenly matched each beat and let his snaps and locks interpret its every intensity. The child was so engrossed with watching the man. The dancer took his breath away.

The dance reached its end with his feet on tip-toes and a hip thrust, one that Xiao Zhan realized was the iconic Michael Jackson step. The man, breathing a little harder than before, moved to fetch the phone, but froze when the next song played. It was a mellow song, quiet and gentle that needed none of the powerful movements the man had done earlier. He was clearly taken aback by the abrupt change of song. His eyes looked far away. They were glassy and pained for a moment, but Xiao Zhan wasn’t able to catch it because the dancer closed his eyes once again and swayed, lifting his arms to wrap around himself. To anyone else, he would’ve looked like a lunatic, hugging himself and swaying to the slow presses of the pianist’s playing. However, to Xiao Zhan, this man seemed.. _Lonely_. He felt as if this dance wasn’t supposed to be danced by only this man. The way he moved through the choreography, the way his feet went backwards, then forwards, then into a semi-circle — these all implied that there should’ve been another person dancing with him. But, here was this mysterious dancer, making up for the absence by merely imagining a partner. 

He was sad to watch, and yet Xiao Zhan found him _interesting_.

The boy quickly took out the sketchbook and the pencil from his soaked duffel bag. Miraculously, the sketchbook only got away with a huge splotch that occupied one-thirds of the pages. He opened it to a random page and hurriedly tried to capture the image of the man with his sloppy drawing skills. He wasn’t used to handling a real pencil, so it was difficult for him to manipulate. 

He allowed his eyes to draw for him; they traveled from his head, torso, thighs, calves, and feet. He detailed the slight glint in his eyes as the lights struck him just right. He made sure to highlight how the man’s expression looked cold, but his eyes spoke of a different story. Xiao Zhan drew and drew, trying his best to retell the story of the dancer in front of him on paper.

He dropped his pencil as he was startled by a loud thunk against the glass window he was leaning on to peek. To his surprise, the man was standing right in front of him, lips pursed and eyes glaring. He inspected the child from head to toe before speaking.

“Who are you, and why are you inside the school premises?” His voice sounded muffled, but Xiao Zhan heard him loud and clear. His hands started to feel clammy as his heartbeat sped up. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing how to answer the man in front of him. 

Looking exasperated, the man sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Stay there.” He turned his back to Xiao Zhan and walked quickly towards the door he had just come from. Xiao Zhan let out a sigh as he did what he was told, choosing instead to will his panic into calming down by perfecting his sketch. His sketch wasn’t anything impressive, but its purpose was to only document the dancer and his loneliness in the room. 

He heard a door open to his right. Not far from where he was, the man in a beanie emerged from it, a slightly annoyed look on his face. He turned towards Xiao Zhan’s direction, and marched towards him. “Who are you?”

The boy quickly hid his sketchbook behind his back. “I’m X— ” 

“Why are you still in school? Classes are done already.”

He looked at the man, bewildered. “This is a school?”

The man puts his hands inside his pocket. “Of course it is. It’s my school.”

“Wow,” the boy couldn’t help but stare in awe. “So, you teach people how to dance?”

His enthusiasm took the man aback. “Yes.”

“That’s cool! You dance really well!”

“Thank you.” The man quirked his brow. “So, what were you drawing? And, why are you here at this hour? You’re clearly not one of my students here.”

Xiao Zhan smiled at him sheepishly. “I, um, I just wanted to draw you.”

“Huh?”

“Um!” The boy opened his sketchbook and showed him his drawing. “I was watching you earlier. You look really heartbroken like this” — he pointed to his face — “while you were dancing. That dance… you’re supposed to have a partner, right?”

Xiao Zhan looked up to see the man looking at his picture with his eyes widened. He was frozen in his position, too. He searched the man’s eyes for something, but they were blank. He started to close his sketchbook when the dancer’s hand shot out and held his wrist, stopping him. “Don’t. It’s, uh, it’s a good drawing.” The man met his eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Xiao Zhan.”

“Xiao Zhan… Wait, _Xiao Zhan_?” He whispered it to himself like a prayer. “It’s… it’s really you?”

The boy was just confused. “It’s me?” What did he mean by that? Did this man know him? 

Well, that couldn’t be it. He had just arrived from the future, after all.

The man, still looking quite shocked, scanned his face, eyes darting here and there. His eyes stopped on the child’s mouth. His breath hitched. The dancer’s gaze flitted once again to his eyes. “Xiao Zhan?” 

“Uh, yes? That’s my name?”

“I’m not dreaming, right?” The man fell to his knees and gripped the boy’s arms tightly. “I… I can’t believe this…”

Xiao Zhan winced at the pain. ‘Um, you’re hurting me. Please let me go…”

The dancer immediately removed his hands from his arms. “Xiao Zhan, _Xiao Zhan_ …” Wonder filled the man’s eyes, making it look sparkly and bright. “It’s you.” He spoke like he couldn’t quite believe the child was in front of him.

Xiao Zhan really couldn’t understand what was going on. It made his head hurt. The dancer probably mistook him for someone else with the same name. Maybe that other person’s name was written in another way. It couldn’t possibly be him. 

The man shook his head, but the small smile on his face never left. There was something different with the man’s smile, Xiao Zhan thought. He didn’t look happy. “Nevermind. So, uh, why are you here? You never answered my question.”

Xiao Zhan’s lips shook in panic. He didn’t know what to say to him. If he told him that he came from the year 2050, would he believe him? Would he push him away and leave him in the streets, where Xiao Zhan will be forced to beg for food or do work? He didn’t want any of that. If anything, this man might be the key to finding the address his baba wrote down on the first page of his sketchbook.

Seeing the look on the child’s face, the man sat down on the space beside him. He took a deep breath, and looked toward the direction of the large gate he saw earlier. “Since when have you started drawing, Xiao Zhan? That sketch looks great.”

Xiao Zhan was confused. Wasn’t he going to pry some more?

“Someone used to draw sketches of me, too. When we first met, he gave them all to me.” The man’s expression looked so serene and content as he watched the raindrops fall from the roof. 

The boy bit his lip, still a little wary of the dancer. “Isn’t that creepy?”

The man looked at him teasingly. “Do you think what you did was creepy?”

That shut Xiao Zhan up.

He chuckled, his low voice a lullaby in the rain. “It was a bit creepy at first, but he explained himself and I understood.” He spoke of this person fondly. This person must have been important to the dancer. “How about you? Why did you draw me?”

Xiao Zhan looked at his hands. “I.. I want to remember you dancing.” He looked up to him. “Is that bad?”

The man shook his head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m flattered.” The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “I looked good, didn’t I?”

Xiao Zhan just stared at him.

“It’s because I know how I look when I dance.” He continued, his small smile growing into a full blown grin. “It’s important for a dancer to know their movements so that they can show the dance properly.”

“But, how about that other song?” Xiao Zhan couldn’t help himself. “The piano? You were just swaying, going around in circles, and hugging yourself.” He blinked. “You looked kinda dumb.”

The dancer deflated. “But, didn’t I look good?”

“Well, you did,” Xiao Zhan agreed. “But, you also looked dumb.” 

Yibo let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’m ignoring that. But, also, you’re right. That dance was supposed to be for two people.”

“So, where is the other person?”

He gazed at the child for a long time before shrugging. “I don’t know. He left. I don’t know where he is.”

Xiao Zhan pouted. “Why didn’t he tell you? It’s not good to leave others without saying goodbye.”

“He said goodbye to me, Xiao Zhan.” The man looked lost. “He said goodbye to me and disappeared out of my life. I can’t even remember much about him, except for what I wrote about him and his sketches.”

“You can’t remember him?”

“Not really. I remember the feelings I had when I was around him, and I.. I miss him, too.” The dancer glanced at him and sighed. “But, that’s just the way he lives; barely anyone remembers him when time passes.”

“Oh.” Xiao Zhan paused. “That’s sad.”

“It’s the only way he knows how to live,” he replied softly. “It’s the only way he can.”

The sound of the rain filled the comfortable silence between them. The man was really lonely just like his dance, Xiao Zhan thought. Why did that person leave, he wondered. Xiao Zhan wished he hadn’t. It made him think that there was something so _wrong_ in the man’s expression.

“What’s your name, mister?” Xiao Zhan opened his sketchbook once again. “I’ll write it here so that I remember who you are. My very first drawing!”

“Your first drawing?” The man raised a brow. Xiao Zhan keeled over at his mistake.

“My first drawing in this sketchbook!” The boy corrected him.

“Ah,” the dancer nodded. “My name is Wang Yibo.”

“Like this?” He turned the sketchbook towards Yibo so that he could inspect. 

Yibo hummed in confirmation. He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Even your penmanship is pretty.”

Xiao Zhan preened inside, flattered, “Thanks,” Xiao Zhan mumbled. “No one really told me that before,” 

“Glad to be the first, then..” Yibo raised his arm and looked at his wristwatch. “It’s getting late. Come, I’ll drive you home.”

“Um,” what was Xiao Zhan supposed to tell him? He didn’t even know where “home” was. He just knew he had a piece of paper that would help him go home. “Can you help me?” He sheepishly flipped to the first page of his sketchbook without looking down. “My baba told me to go to wherever this is.”

He glanced down at the same time Yibo stared at the first page.

_If you find this boy, please take him to Professor Xiao of the Arts department in Chongqing Technology and Business University. He’s his grandchild._

_If you are Professor Xiao, please turn to the next page._

“Chongqing Technology and Business University, huh? That’s pretty near here.” Yibo took a few seconds to just gaze at him with the left corner of his mouth raised before getting up and offered his hand towards the boy. Xiao Zhan took it gladly. “So, your grandfather’s an art professor, huh. Makes sense.” The child saw him nod at himself as he led them to the door and went inside. 

“Makes sense? What do you mean?”

“It's natural for you to be a good artist because you have an art professor for a grandpa.” They walked through the hallway, which divided four practice rooms just like the one he saw. They all looked the same to little Xiao Zhan, who could only take a glimpse inside because of the glass doors. The end of the hallway led to a covered parking area. Yibo took something that resembled keys and pressed a button. A car beeped and immediately drove towards them. 

Xiao Zhan didn’t know they had auto driving cars in 2032. “But, it still uses keys.”

“What do you mean?” The boy didn’t mean to say that out loud. Yibo gave him a suspicious look. 

Xiao Zhan merely shook his head. “It’s nothing!”

The car stopped in front of them. Yibo opened the car door. “You mind?” The man was bending down and preparing to scoop him up onto the car seat. Xiao Zhan shook his head, putting his sketchbook inside his slightly wet duffle bag, and reached towards him with both arms. The man lifted him effortlessly, putting him down gently on the car seat and closing the door. He made his way to the driver’s seat as well.

“Ready for a ride?” Yibo asked him as he pushed a button that made the seatbelts creep out of their slots and bind them to their seats. “I’m not a careful driver, I’m already telling you.”

“But, you’ll keep us safe anyway?”

The dancer whipped his head towards the boy rather abruptly, surprised at what he just heard. “You really trust me?”

“Yup.”

“You just met me today. I could be a child kidnapper. I could sell your organs.”

Xiao Zhan gave him a long stare. “You’re not.”

Yibo pursed his lips. “And, how do you know that?”

“I don’t know,” the boy just shrugged. “I just feel like I can trust you.”

Yibo continued to stare at the child before breaking down to a laughing fit. “Someone should teach you how to be suspicious of others.”

The boy blushed. “I-I know!”

Yibo snickered, a tender look in his eyes “Fine, fine. I feel honored to be trusted by a kid.” His chuckle grew as Xiao Zhan tried to swat at his arm. His hand hovered over the stereo in front, and pressed a button. Rap filled the air, but the volume wasn’t loud enough to interrupt their conversation. The man pressed on the gas pedal with his foot, and maneuvered the steering wheel.

Yibo didn’t drive as bad as he thought, though maybe it might be because he was being careful with the boy. They kept a light banter, with Yibo asking things about him while Xiao Zhan tried his best to gloss over the details. However, something in his gut told him that this man probably knew more about him than he let on. It was strange to think that way; humans in this year still couldn’t comprehend time travel. It was only in 2050 that his baba created an early test of a time travel machine. His baba was very intelligent, sometimes even telling little Xiao Zhan about his stories about this thing called “time and space continuum”. He honestly thought it was some kind of themed restaurant that his baba loved. His baba would tell him that he would understand when he grew some more. So, for now, he enjoyed the fact that his baba was spending time with him.

He missed his father.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Yibo glanced at the child from the front mirror. Xiao Zhan turned his head towards Yibo and scrunched his forehead in confusion. That was when the child realized what was putting his companion off: the tears in his eyes. Xiao Zhan could only open his palms in an attempt to catch and feel the droplets.

“So, what’s wrong?”

He could not meet the man’s eyes. “I… I miss my baba.”

“Your father?” Yibo tried his best to keep up with the conversation as he drove. “What happened to your father? Isn’t he at home with your grandfather?”

“He’s…” The child restrained the sob struggling to come out of his throat. “He’s in a far away place. He’s in a place where I can’t go.”

Yibo touched a few buttons on the car monitor, typed something into it, and let go of the steering wheel. Xiao Zhan reached out in a hurry, panicking as he tried to settle the vehicle while having zero knowledge about steering cars. The dancer just laughed at him. 

“It’s steering itself. I’ve put the university as its destination, so it knows where it’s supposed to go.” He turned himself to face the child, albeit a little restricted by his seatbelt. “You know, your father sounds kind of an asshole if he left you to fend for yourself.”

Xiao Zhan clenched his fists. “Don’t say that about my baba.”

Yibo raised his hands in defeat. “I was just saying! But, I’m sure he loves you a lot, you know. Even if he left you.”

Xiao Zhan pouted, making the dancer chuckle.

“He wrote an address to your grandpa, so I don’t think he wants you to be alone.” Yibo patted the child’s head. “Just remember he cares, in his own way.”

Xiao Zhan wiped his tears with the back of his hand. “Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wang.”

“That’s just Yibo gege to you.” Yibo grinned to himself and hit the same button he did earlier, and put his hands on the steering wheel.

“If the car can autodrive, how come you’re still driving?” Xiao Zhan asked as he settled back on his seat, looking at the sights outside. It was mostly buildings and other cars, but it was surprising to see trees and the dark night sky. In the future, it was more modernized and filled. The sky wasn’t even visible anymore. Quite suffocating, if you asked Xiao Zhan, but that was why there were more of those tall buildings in the future. You could see the sky from there and breathe fresh air.

“Habit. I’ve lived through a time when nothing was this easy. Life used to be simpler.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t hate this, though. I just wish some things stayed simple.”

“How old are you, Yibo gege?”

“I’m 35 years old already.”

“That’s not old,” Xiao Zhan furrowed his brow. “My baba is already almost 50. _He’s_ old.”

Yibo snickered. “And, here I was, thinking you loved him.”

“I do!” The boy sounded defensive. “I just think he’s old.”

“Children really are honest.” The light humor in his voice suggested that Yibo wasn’t making fun of him.

Xiao Zhan hummed to himself, following the flow of the simple rap. Yibo bobbed his head to the beat as well, enjoying the late night drive to the university. The steady hum of the engine along with the heater’s soft blowing accompanied the low rap, which comforted the young boy. Xiao Zhan felt grateful that he met Yibo when he got here. He felt safe with him.

“Yibo gege,” Xiao Zhan started. “If you could meet that person again, what would you tell them?”

Yibo didn’t answer him immediately. The man looked thoughtful for a moment, his eyes glossing over. If Xiao Zhan could, he’d like to draw this moment, too; Yibo looked really mysterious when he was thinking.

Yibo gave him a small smile. Something about it unsettled Xiao Zhan greatly. “I’d ask him if he’d let me have one more chance with him. I was ready to do everything for him.” He pulls out a chain underneath his collar. On his neck was a long silver chain with two rings, almost of the same size. He rubbed his thumb over the rings fondly. “I’m still ready to do that, you know. I want to stay with him as long as I can.”

Yibo had whispered the last part to the child. The crack in his voice revealed just how hurt he was, and laid out his broken heart for Xiao Zhan to look at. Something in his chest stirred, like someone was pulling his heart apart. He didn’t know why he felt this way; the more he thought about why, the more his head spun. There must be something wrong with his head

The moment was interrupted by the car’s navigation system. “ _You have arrived at your destination._ ” They passed by a gate with embossed letters of the university’s name at the front. The entrance had what looked like security verification machines, but they let Yibo’s car pass by without hassle. Did Yibo often go here? Did he teach here? Was he a student here? 

He was distracted by the other buildings inside the campus. There were so many trees inside, and the buildings were uniquely designed. One of them even looked like a juicer. When they reached another building that looked similar to a corner filling, Yibo stepped on the brakes, making the car gradually come to a stop.

“We’re here, Xiao Zhan.” Yibo looked thoughtfully at the building. He chuckled and shook his head before Xiao Zhan could even ask him about it. Yibo pressed the button once more to release them from their seatbelts, pulled out an umbrella from below his seat, and opened the car door. The boy waited for the man to get out of the car and open the door for him so that he could get out. 

Xiao Zhan knew he needed to say goodbye to Yibo soon. He wanted the nice dancer to stay friends with him. But, how could he say that? He was just a kid he picked up on his school’s doorstep.

They made their way through a covered walkway going towards the entrance. The security guard immediately stopped them.

“We’re here for Professor Xiao,” Yibo smoothly said, straightening his back a little. It made him appear taller than he really was.

The guard looked at him in awe. “Wang Yibo?”

“Yes,” he flashed him a small smile. “I have his grandchild right here.”

The guard’s gaze fell downward to the boy standing behind Yibo’s leg. “Hello,” Xiao Zhan greeted with a small wave. He held onto Yibo’s pants for comfort.

“Well, hello there,” he studied Xiao Zhan carefully. “The professor has never mentioned you. But, you really do look like your grandfather, huh.” He turned his back on the pair and put his ID against the scanners by the front door. The doors slid open, revealing a hallway with symmetrically painted rectangles of different sizes. They resembled brick texture, but some had more shadows than others. “You caught him just in time. He hasn’t left yet, he’s fixing up the exhibits for the gallery tomorrow. He’ll be in Room 105.”

“Thanks, sir.” Yibo nodded toward him as he took Xiao Zhan’s hand and guided him inside. The hallway was so colorful, making the child feel a rising excitement in his chest. If his grandfather was teaching in this school, that meant that he was exposed to this color playground everyday. Xiao Zhan wanted to stay here, too.

The boy saw the numbers on top of the doors. They passed by rooms 101 and 102 already. They must be coming close.

Yibo came to a quick stop in front of a red painted door. There was a narrow window that was half of the door’s length to peek through, but since Xiao Zhan wasn’t tall enough, he couldn’t look. The dancer knocked on the door three times before turning the door knob and coming in.

“Oh!” In front of them was Xiao Zhan’s grandfather, a man that looked to be in his late forties to early fifties wearing a checkered button up and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up, which revealed marks of paint scattered along his forearm. He had light hairs on top of his mouth, and some visible wrinkles on his forehead and beside his eyes. He looked genuinely surprised to see them enter the room. “Hello there. How may I help you?”

“I found your grandson,” Yibo started, pulling Xiao Zhan forward from behind him. “He wanted to go to you.”

“Grandson?” His face scrunched up. “You must be mistaken, sir, because I don’t have a wife, let alone a grandson—”

“He’s yours, trust me.” Yibo had this determined look in his eyes. “Show him your sketchpad, Xiao Zhan.”

It was weird for Yibo to really believe that this person was his yeye. Wasn’t he going to doubt Xiao Zhan, especially since it looked like his yeye didn’t know him? However, Xiao Zhan did as he was told anyway, releasing the man’s hand and bringing his sketchpad out of his duffel bag. Opening it to the first page just as he did with Yibo, the child shyly walked towards the older man. The professor reached out for the sketchpad, staring at Xiao Zhan for a minute before reading what was written on the page. The boy watched anxiously as the other’s eyes grew wider with every sentence he read. His grandfather flipped to the next page, reading all of the messy writing his father made before his departure.

Xiao Zhan only hoped that the man would believe him and take him in. He didn’t know what to do if he didn’t. Yibo certainly wouldn’t take him in. He didn’t want to be a burden to the dancer any longer. He had no other family left here, no other person he can trust. He was, after all, a lost boy. 

“But, this is impossible! It can’t be!” The professor dropped the sketchpad, which Xiao Zhan collected before the elder could step on it. “Are you for real?” He asked the boy. Startled, the child stepped back to give himself space from the terrified man. 

“Um, please believe me.” He cupped his cheeks. “My baba says I really look like you! I think that should help?”

“Just because you resemble me doesn’t mean you’re already my grandchild!” Professor Xiao crossed his arms. 

“Uhh,” Xiao Zhan tried to think of a way to convince him. “I draw! Here, look!” He flipped to the page where he drew Yibo, and showed it to his grandfather.

The professor studied it carefully. “You’ve got potential, kid, I’ll give you that,” he mumbled under his breath. “But, this isn’t enough to prove that you’re my grandchild.” He glared at the boy. “Tell me, who is your grandma?”

Xiao Zhan looked up to the ceiling, trying to recall his grandmother. “Baba said grandma’s name was Hui Yin. Baba told me you always say she’s a very bright sun. You never got to—” 

The boy covered his ears tightly, pain evident on his face. He was hearing a deafening ringing in his ears. It physically hurt him to even listen to it, and he tried to shut it out to no avail. He doesn’t know where it was coming from. He felt overwhelmed, the noise attacking him from all directions. 

_It hurts so much, please just end, please, please, please, I want my baba, this is so painful!_

_Help me, please! Please help me, it hurts so much, I want to scream—_

“Xiao Zhan?” Yibo called out to him, worried. Xiao Zhan whipped his head quickly to the side to look at him, eyes wide in terror. The boy panted heavily as he slowly recognized Yibo. That was when he noticed it.

The sound.

It’s... _gone_.

Xiao Zhan gradually unclenched his hands and dropped it to his sides. He looked at his yeye in front, who was confused. “What… How do you know about Hui Yin?! She isn’t even pregnant!”

“Hui… Yin?” Xiao Zhan repeated. “Who’s that?”

His yeye’s jaw dropped. “Didn’t you just say her name?”

“I did?” The boy scrunched his face. “Why?”

The professor just stared at him. He turned his gaze towards Yibo. “Is he okay?”

Yibo watched the child as he looked back at him. Xiao Zhan grew visibly uncomfortable with the dancer’s piercing gaze. It scared him.

Yibo stepped forward and put Xiao Zhan behind him. “Trust me, Professor. He’s your grandchild.” He looked determined. “If you don’t take him in, I’ll have to leave him in the orphanage.” Xiao Zhan saw his yeye shiver at the thought. “You know how it is there, don’t you?”

“

The professor pursed his lips. He looked genuinely afraid of what Yibo just said. What was an orphanage? What was so scary about it? 

His yeye’s gaze fell on him again. His eyebrows were scrunched together, almost forming a monobrow. Xiao Zhan almost laughed. He stopped himself, though, because everything was Serious and Not Funny.

The professor took a deep breath. “We need to talk about this, but okay. You’re coming home with me.”

Xiao Zhan’s face visibly lit up at his words. He held the sketchpad closer to his chest as he gave him a shy smile. “Thank you, yeye.” The professor tentatively smiled back at him as well.

The moment was interrupted by Yibo clearing his throat. “Sir, can I ask you to step outside? I just need to talk to you.”

The elder looked at him, confused. “Is there something else?”

“Yes, it’s important.” Yibo glanced at Xiao Zhan. “Xiao Zhan, stay here. I just need to talk to your grandfather about something.”

The child nodded his head, content in sitting on the floor to prevent coming into contact with the big installations around him. He didn’t want to mess his yeye’s hard work. The two men exited the room, closing the door gently behind them.

  
  


** Curtains Fall  **

_([ Wang Yibo, age 35](https://open.spotify.com/track/74lzhSm69LfFYFsssn9kE4?si=09DONTLiQcSpT5UUXsZHyA))_

Yibo knows that this time was coming ever since he signed up for it years ago. It is always like this with him; the man himself even warned him about it. He told him then that someday, in his future, he was bound to say goodbye. It is something that is inevitable, a truth that has to unfurl eventually.

Fortunately, he has made peace with this fact years into discovering who he really is and what it entails. Choosing to remember him every single year means recognizing that his connection to him will not matter to anyone but Yibo. It is a doomed fate from the very start, no matter how much he fought for it, no matter how much they were the perfect fit for each other.

However, this peace has not prepared him for today, for it is the day he lets him go.

The moment when he found the solid reminder of his existence showed up on his doorstep is when it painfully dawns on him what must happen today. The inevitable, almost always just floating above his head as he lived his years, has decided to make itself known to him at a time he is the least prepared.

But, he must cope. He always needs to. It’s his way of life at this point. It’s part of the job description of loving a man who cannot exist with him in time. That’s just the way life goes for him.

He faces the professor calmly, antsy fingers fiddling behind his back. The man peers at him curiously. “So, what’s the matter?”

“I’m not sure how much is in the note,” Yibo starts. “But, there is no other way for him to live.”

“Looks like it,” the professor says, exasperated. “I’m still wrapping my head around it. I’ve only read about people like him in books.”

“He is real, and he is here. You should believe him.” Yibo answered him resolutely.

“Give me time.” the other raises his hands in defeat. “I’m still trying to digest it.”

There is no sense in pressuring the man to understand immediately. It also took him time to accept the reality, after all. He lets out a sigh as he peers into the window, watching Xiao Zhan touch the floor curiously. “You have to keep a diary. You have to write about him, give the diary to him every Christmas, and tell him to give it back to you on the 1st of January.” 

“Why do I have to do that?”

“You’ll forget him,” he doesn’t dare look away from the child, imprinting his image into his mind. “Every year, you’ll forget him because he isn’t supposed to exist in that way.” Yibo raises his hand and puts it against the window. “Time has its rules, and his existence disobeys them all. This is the price he pays to survive.”

He hears a gasp beside him, but he pays it no mind. He lets his eyes cherish the last minutes he has with Xiao Zhan.

“That’s… That’s such a cruel thing to do,” the professor whispers under his breath, turning towards the door’s narrow window as well and looking at the child. “He is only but a child.”

“It’s his reality, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.” _There was nothing I could do to stop it._ The words leave a bitter taste in his mouth. It’s still so hard to admit even if he resigned himself to this fate years ago. “Just keep a diary, and allow him to live as much as he can.”

It’s a few minutes of silence before he hears the elder speak again. “Who are you, exactly? Why do you know so much about him?”

Yibo answers him with a chuckle. “I’m just the guy who returns a lost boy to his grandfather.” He flashes a mischievous grin towards the professor. “Can I talk to him first before leaving?”

The man looks bewildered. He must think of Yibo as deranged. He decides to trust him anyway. “Okay.”

Yibo enters the room once again, making the boy look up. “Yibo gege!” Xiao Zhan exclaims in delight. He scans behind the older, and frowns. “Where’s yeye?”

“He’s outside,” the dancer answers as he comes to a stop in front of the child. He kneels down so that he was at his eye level. “Listen, I’m going to go soon.”

Xiao Zhan’s frown deepens. “Oh, no. Can’t you stay longer?”

“I can’t,” he pats the boy’s head. “It’s almost the end of the year.”

“Oh,” he knows that makes no sense to the child, but Xiao Zhan nods anyway. “I won’t be able to see you again?”

Yibo chuckles quietly. “You will. But, I won’t know you at that time. You have to be patient, okay?” 

Xiao Zhan nods at him again. “Of course!”

“And,” Yibo takes in the sight of the young boy, cheeks full with baby fat and eyes bright with cheer. At least he remembers him like this, so alive and young and full of hope. _I will finally let you g_ o. “Always remember you have me, forever. ”

“Okay,” Xiao Zhan’s eyes begin to water. “Okay, I’ll remember.”

Yibo pinches his cheek gently. “I’ll see you in the future, Xiao Zhan.” He opens his arms. “Hug?”

“Okay,” Xiao Zhan sees how awkward that was for him. The child steps into his arms, and tucks his head on the crook of the elder’s neck. He says nothing as Yibo’s arms tighten around him, seemingly sensing that this is something Yibo needs and wishes. And, _oh_ , how he wishes.

_But, this is it. This is the last time._

Yibo reluctantly lets the boy go. There’s nothing to say anymore. He has said his goodbyes. It’s time to really end it for good. He stands up from where he’s kneeling.

“See you, too, Yibo gege.” The boy gives him a wave. Yibo painfully smiles and ruffles his hair once more before making his way towards the door. He makes one last glance at the child, whose tears were already flowing from his eyes. It makes him choke a little, but he gathers his strength to give him one last wave. Then, he opens the door and gets out.

The professor looks at him with forlorn eyes. “You won’t be able to see him anymore, would you?” The way he says it makes it sound like a statement, like it is something irreversible. 

Yibo meets the elder’s gaze. “Take care of him, professor.” He turns his back on the man and slowly walks towards where they came from. Each step he takes is one step towards locking the existence of his beloved in his memories. Each step he takes is one step towards a future where his beloved does not exist anymore.

Yibo knows that this time was coming ever since he signed up for it years ago. It is always like this with him; the man himself even warned him about it. As he nears the entrance, he lets the reality of it all wash over him as he silently mourns over his broken heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scream at me in the comments, on [ Twitter (I changed it!) ](https://twitter.com/sunstainedsheet) or in [ Curious Cat ](https://curiouscat.qa/sunstainedsheet) !!


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